Power & Beauty Read Online Free PDF Page B

morning was starting to warm. A little kid rode by on a bike. He was throwing copies of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the driveways of the mansions that lined the street. The suburb was silent except for the birds chirping in the trees.
    “He’s the devil,” said Beauty. “He’s the creepiest man I’ve ever met.”
    “I think he sincerely wants to help us.”
    “I think he sincerely wants to jump my bones and is just waiting for the chance.”
    “He’d never do that. He had too much respect for Moms to hurt her kids.”
    “Then how do you explain the cameras?”
    “I can’t. But why don’t you just ask him?”
    “I’m not about to have a conversation with him. I can see how he seduces people. He buys them. I love Wanda, but he’s bought her, just like he’s buying you.”
    At the end of the street was a little park. In the center was a white lattice gazebo that was empty except for a circular bench.
    “Let’s just sit down for a while,” I said. “Let’s just look at this thing objectively.”
    I sat on one side of the bench; Beauty sat on the other. She wasn’t about to sit next to me.
    I started in calmly. “Okay, let’s look at this guy. We know he’s not all bad or else Moms would have never tried to help him with his books.”
    “Bullshit. Moms thought everyone had a good heart. That was her problem. That’s what got her killed, Power.”
    “You keep saying that, but you don’t have a single piece of evidence.”
    “I have my instincts.”
    “And your instincts are fucked up because of everything that’s happened to us. Your instincts are feeding your imagination, and your imagination is making you nuts.”
    Beauty swept her hair away from her face, leaned forward, and looked me straight in the eye. I couldn’t help but think that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her features were perfect—the shape of her eyes, the sheen of her skin, the slight flare of her nose, the delicacy of her hands, the way sunlight bounced off her long lustrous black hair. I tried to forget what it was like when she was caught up in that fire of passion, urging me on, crying out my name. I tried to block the memory, but as she sat there, I undressed her in my mind. I saw her naked.
    “Look, Power,” she said. “We can go back and forth like this for hours, but there’s really no point. I just called you to say that I’m leaving.”
    “When?”
    “Today.”
    “Just like that?”
    “Just like that.”
    “What about school?”
    “I’ll be going to school in New York. I found an arts high school there that has courses in fashion design.”
    “How are you going to pay for it? Where are you going to live?”
    “Moms left us some savings.”
    “That’s hardly anything.”
    “Wanda has a friend in New York. I’ll be staying with her for a while. But Slim can’t know that Wanda’s helping me. Wanda’s scared that he’ll be pissed. I’m not even telling Wanda that I’m telling you.”
    “Then why are you telling me?”
    “Because I think you should get out too.”
    “And go where?”
    “Anywhere. Just out of Atlanta.”
    I moved over to sit next to Beauty. When I took her hand, she let me. “I know you have big problems with Slim,” I said, “but I swear this man will help you. He’ll help you get whatever you want. I’ve been with him. I know him. By leaving, you’ll just be making an enemy out of a friend. You’ll be leaving the most comfortable situation imaginable to go to a place where you don’t know a soul. Why in hell would you do that, Beauty?”
    “To save my life. I’m telling you all this, I’m trying to reach you”—and with those words she squeezed my hand—“because I want to save your life too.”
    “You’ve actually gotten yourself to believe that my life is in danger?”
    “I feel it so deeply that I wake up at night crying.”
    I started to say something, but the words didn’t come. I put my arm around Beauty and kissed her forehead.